Will Twitter Join Podcasting on the 'Net Sidelines'?
Ian Lamont writes "Twitter has established itself in some quarters as a must-have communications tool, and its power to connect and even incite people is hard to deny. But does Twitter have long-term, mainstream potential? Or does a poor revenue model and strong competition mean that it's destined to be a sideline Internet technology, much like podcasting has failed to live up to early hype?"
Podcasting has hardly been sidelined. In the radio business, podcasting is utterly huge--a transformative, disruptive technology that is propelling new business models and new integration of old and new medias. I host a public radio show myself: our podcasting audience is the equivalent of having a dozen more stations syndicate our show. I'm a convert, too: in 2004 I said podasting was DOA. Boy, was I wrong. I'm now at the point where podcasts are the main way I get radio an it's true for more and more people. We know because our radio audience tells us so and we see it in the numbers.
Wordnik, a dictionary project which aims to collect
I'm hearing a lot of "hating" going on but I think it's mainly due to misunderstanding.
Twitter is not "just broadcast instant messaging for the ADD crowd" or "taking social networking to a pathetic extreme".
Twitter is useful. I've found work, I've found contractors, I've found new music, I've found new web apps, I've gotten breaking news before major outlets, I've crowdsourced for opinions when making purchases, I've met new people, discovered new restaurants, and I've used it as a personalized 411 in any number of situations.
I suppose if you and your 3 friends join and just post messages about when you're taking a dump then it's pretty useless. But if you use tools like twittermap.com (http://twittermap.com/maps) to find local people then you can get information about road closings, weather conditions, and other relevant local info. And the situations are endless where it comes in handy to have a local support network of people you are in touch with.
And aside from the local network benefits, you have a real good chance of communicating/networking with some major players/influencers like VC's, A-list bloggers, politicians, celebrities, company founders, etc, etc...
So, if you don't like information, new music, or web technology then don't use twitter. Meanwhile, I'll continue with listening to some cool muxtapes (http://muxtape.com) I discovered through twitter recommendations.
Peace.